Cathey McClain Finlon has been appointed chair of The Children’s Hospital board of directors, after having served on the board for nine years. For two of those years, she was vice-chair.

This is Finlon’s second major appointment in recent months. On Jan. 1, she was named president of the Denver Art Museum with the responsibility of overseeing museum business operations, finances, development, marketing and human resources. She had been a member of the DAM board for 15 years.

“We’re thrilled to have Cathey at the helm. She’s been a trusted advisor and has made many important decisions affecting children’s health,” says hospital president and chief executive officer Jim Shmerling.

Michael Mowry, Amy Cara and Adam Lerner, the director of MCA/Denver. Photo by Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post

If Mother Nature thought she was being funny by interrupting our summer-like fall to appear out of nowhere and dump a whole bunch of snow on Denver, the joke was on her. It didn’t stop 557 hardy souls from making their way to 1900 Sixteenth St. at the Millennium Bridge, site of MCA Denver’s 2009 gala, Velocity.
The dinner and auction presented by the Riverfront Park Community Foundation raised $478,904 — a sum that was $68,904 more than the goal set by chairmen Tim Gill, Scott Miller, Lu Law and Dr. Chris Law. The money goes to exhibitions and educational programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver
Mayor John Hickenlooper and his wife, Helen Thorpe, were the honorary chairmen.
MCA Denver founder Sue Cannon was among those braving the elements, joining a crowd that also included Mark Falcone, president of the MCA Denver board; past president Karl Kister; and Denver Art Museum director Christoph Heinrich.
Velocity’s live auction, conducted by Christies, featured auction items donated by Hermes, Barnaby Furnas, Anthony Goicolea, Terry Maker, Wang Nengtao, Enoc Perez, Arlene Shechet, Melanie Smith and Hui Xin.
Some of the high bidders were Scott Miller, who offered $34,000 for “The Flood (Study),” by Barnaby Furnas; Bart Spaulding, whose $15,000 donation netted him “Dial 911 for America, Brothers, The Chinese Can Do It All,” by Wang Nengtao; and David Caulkins, who paid $12,500 for “Tunnel,” by Anthony Goicolea.
The evening’s dinner was provided by Three Tomatoes Catering, whose co-owner, Joanne Katz, and hubby Ron were hosts to a group that included BJ Dyer and Guenther Vogt.
The Katzes also served on the Velocity host committee with Jill and John Alfond; Elissa Auther and Adam Lerner; Colleen and Javier Baz; Alan Becker; Sheila Bisenius; Ellen Bruss and Mark Falcone; Mardi and Brown Cannon; Sue Cannon; Mary Caulkins and Karl Kister; Dee Chirafisi and Jim Theye; Pat Cortez and Manuel Martinezd; Eric Crotty and Byron Nixon; Kathleen and Carter Dammen; Philae Dominick; Sarah and James Dominick; Amber and Michael Fries; Baryn Futa; Elizabeth and Edward Goldin; Amy Harmon; Wendy Haworth and David Caulkins; Arlene and Barry Hirschfeld; Barbara Ittner and Clark Richert; Ke-Daniel Lincoln and Mark Watts; Vicki and Kent Logan; Cathy McCall; Eliza Prall and Bill Carleton; Dr. Dean Prina; Martha Records and Rich Rainaldi; Pat Reynolds and Peter Kirsch; Joann Shernoff; Emily Sinclair and Jay Kenney; Mark Sink; Jean and Douglas Smooke; Sabine Taal; Felicity and Mark Tompkins; Danielle and Pieter Van Ede; and Carol Wolf.

Steve Farber outside the Denver Art Museum, where the party hosted by his law firm was held Sunday night. Photo by Joanne Davidson, The Denver Post

It must be tough to be Steve Farber, this week especially. As one of those responsible for bringing the Democratic National Convention to Denver, his schedule is daunting, to say the least.
Someone said he has almost 400 commitments during the convention’s run, and he’ll probably make all of them. But even this Energizer Bunny has his limits.
“I was so tired today that I passed out (for a nap) at 4 o’clock,” he admitted as he and law partner Norm Brownstein prepared to welcome about 2,000 of their friends at a “welcome to the DNC” party held Sunday night at the Denver Art Museum.
ProLogis and American Clean Skies were the co-hosts.
Crowded as Farber’s itinerary is, it pales next to that of Gov. Bill Ritter, who also attended the DAM bash. Ritter could only stay for a minute because he was due at Red Rocks Amphitheater to introduce singer Sheryl Crow.
Academy Award winning actress Charlize Theron had RSVP’d with a “yes” to the Farber fete; whether she made it was still up in the air at press time. Those who were there: media mogul Ted Turner, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas; Kathleen Brown, sister of former California Gov. Jerry Brown; and such local luminaries as U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, former legislator Tim Wirth; Rosemary Rodriguez, Denver’s former clerk and recorder who is now a member of the Election Assistance Commission; Stephanie Foote, president of the 2008 Roundtable Series; and John Morland, managing director/global communities for ProLogis.
DAM Director Lewis Sharp was there, too, as was former Gov. Bill Owens; Larry Mizel; Tom Strickland; Jeremy Kinney with wife Holly Arnold Kinney, owner of The Fort restaurant; Goldman Sachs vice chairman Bob Hormats; former Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan; Josh Hanfling; Blair and Kristin Richardson; Michael and Shereen Pollak, owners of Hyde Park Jewelers; attorneys David and Patty Powell; Walt and Georgia Imhoff; MDC President David Mandarich and wife, Bonnie; Linda and Dr. Richard Kelley; Barry Hitschfeld; Eula and Janet Adams; Paul Esserman; attorney Hubert Farbes; Dick and Marcia Robinson with daughter and son-in-law Ellen and Mark Schwartz; Rose Community Foundation President Sheila Bugdanowitz; Larry and Julie Gelfond; Susan Kirk; Michael James; Rollie Jordan and Dr. Bill Silvers; Rose Community Foundation’s chief financial officer, Anne Garcia; and National Jewish Health President Michael Salem who, on Wednesday, is having a lunch at his home for U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye of Hawaii.

Pictures taken at the Welcome to the DNC party can be viewed at denverpost.com/seengallery

Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com